(Host) Seventy-four middle school students from Shelburne are heading to Orlando Florida Monday morning, to fulfill a musical dream they’ve been working towards for nearly a year.
The students are members of the Shelburne Community School Wind Ensemble’ an advanced band that requires student auditions. David Myers is the band’s director. He says last spring the young musicians began to apply for a chance to play in a concert at Disney World.
(Myers) The group last year in May submitted a tape to Disney World to be invited to perform as part of Magic Music Days , which is an honors program for outstanding musical programs around the nation, and within a week of submitting the tape we got an invitation normally it takes 8 weeks to run that process, so something must have been there that was special that made this group special and stand out .
(Host)The group has been fundraising for the week-long trip to Florida for the past 9 months running everything from bake sales to car washes, as well as selling music CD’s of their own performances. David Myers says the hard work has been rewarded by some accolades along the way.
(Myers) In January Governor Jim Douglas named the students Ambassadors of the state of Vermont’, to represent Vermont while they’re in Florida, and we have special state of Vermont ambassador badges that the students will be wearing on their trip to the Orlando middle school.
(Host) On Friday, the band gathered in the school’s gym for a send off performance, with a preview of the Florida music program.
This Wednesday, they’ll play to a Disney audience, in a concert that they’re calling Performance of a Lifetime .